After the Last Page Turned & the Curtain Fallen
by lovepb13
Summary: Under the Emperor Apostle Glinda is a prisoner in her own home but when a suspicious package is left on her balcony her life changes once again.
1. Chapter 1

Title: After the Last Page Had Turned and the Curtain Had Fallen (1/?)  
**Fandom:** Wicked (Bookverse & Musicalverse)  
**Characters & Pairings:** Elphaba/Glinda  
**Rating:** PG-13 for now  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Wicked__  
_Summary: Under the Emperor Apostle Glinda is a prisoner in her own home but when a suspicious package is left on her balcony her life changes once again.

**Notes: **This is the first part of a series that I will continue if there is enough interest.

Glinda scrunched her nose in disgust as the bundle of brown cloth wriggled and kicked before emitting a particularly unpleasant smell. It was undoubtedly the strangest package she had ever received, and being a public figure with a good number of followers she had received a few rather... unique packages in her time. As impromptu leader of Oz and for the years afterwards she had all of her packages and telegrams opened for her by some servant or other (in fact she had employed several servants just for that purpose over the years) but now she found herself in the unfortunate position of being all alone on her balcony with the most obtrusive looking package she had ever encountered.

She ducked and leant forward to stare at the package, fixing a curl that had fallen loose in her movement behind her ear.

"Best open you up then." She whispered to the parcel, tugging on the pale yellow string to undo the loose bow before unfolding the cloth and exposing the most unexpected thing. "Sweet Oz, Elphaba if you could only see this." She murmured reverently and she lifted the small moss coloured baby up from the cloth and held her – and it was aher – out in front of her, laying the baby along the length of her two arms. "Green as sin." She murmured. "Green as _her_."

The girl gurgled happily, wiggling her tiny fists in the air before reaching out and grasping for Glinda's hair. Glinda moved her head backwards and out of the way, frowning slightly as the girl opened her eyes in a display of shocking bright blue crystal. For a moment Glinda's breath caught in her throat and she almost dropped the child. Her thoughts quickly jumped to the boy, Liir, and she took the babe in one arm and cradled her whist she searched the cloth for a note, already knowing what it would say. She smiled when she found it.

_Mrs Glinda Chuffrey,_

_I find myself in a position in which I am unable to look after my child. I knew that if I were to leave her at a mauntery she should surely be drowned or otherwise dispatched of due to her unfortunate colouring. I pray that you will be a safe place for her._

_I know not that I will return to safety and so I trust her with you indefinitely,_

_Liir_

_P.S. She is yet to be named, a task I leave in your hands._

Glinda frowned. She was to name the child? Wasn't bringing her up enough? For that was what the letter was asking. She recognised the meaning behind Liir's words instantly. Still, the girl needed a name and Glinda supposed she ought to have one that fitted. She regarded the green girl with a scrutiny that was often associated with childhood wonder.

Green, obviously. And eyes blue, like Glinda's own, from her mother presumably. The rest of her was purely from Liir's side of the family. She recognised the strong jaw of Elphaba even through the puppy fat and the squishy nose and pretty cheeks that was pure Nessarose, or the mother Melena she supposed. The hair was lighter than Elphaba's had been, a couple of shades darker than Nessa's but still not black as pitch like the baby's grandmother's. For a brief moment Glinda allowed herself the memory of running her fingers though that long raven hair.

The teeth were absent as a baby's should be, not like in the stories she had begged Nessa to tell her after Elphaba's departure in the Emerald City. In fact a lot about the child reminded her of Nessarose and by extension of who Glinda imagined Melena to have been.

She smiled.

"Melena." Glinda said, trying it out. Elphaba would like that she thought, not that she'd ever admit it. The baby made a sound akin approval. "Melena..." She thought for a moment, what was the last name to be? Did Liir have a last name? What about Thropp? No, that would raise too many suspicions. But what else? Chuffrey? Definitely not, Elphaba would be turning in her... wherever she was. Then it came to her. "Melena Upland." She said in a satisfied sort of way. A little bit of Elphaba and a little of...

At this the baby smiled, smiled in a way that normal babies didn't smile.

It turned out that no one questioned the little green girl's appearance. There were stories of her origin of course, some saying that she had been left at mauntery and Glinda had been called on account of her peculiar colour, others said that it had been blessed into Glinda by Lurline herself to atone for the sins of the Wicked Witch. Some even got it right, said she had been abandoned into Glinda's care by some terrified parent. But it didn't matter where or why Melena had come to Glinda because Glinda_ loved_ her, loved her in the sickeningly sweet, hug someone until they die kind of way.

Two months passed and now the baby was no longer a newborn but a person within her own right with a character and a personality all her own. It was then that _she_ came.

Glinda was bouncing the baby up and down as she walked across the room, singing a Gillikin lullaby and bottle-feeding her. She had grown to love these sleepless nights when it was just her and Melena, holding her close and breathing in the baby's sweet smell. It was all she's ever wanted.

What she didn't know was that she was being watched.

Elphaba was perched on the balcony rail, watching Glinda with wonder. It was hot and the blonde was barely dressed, a thin night gown of pastel blue fluttering see-through above similar coloured underwear. The last time Elphaba had seen Glinda in anything other than a full ceremonial gown had been at Shiz. Since then Glinda had grown into her own body, filled it out in a way that made Elphaba's heart flutter and her face flush. And the baby... It was scene that Elphaba had once dreamt about when she was young and idealistic, Glinda with a baby clutched to her breast.

She had known it was only a dream, an impossibility, but now...

She couldn't let this go, not this time. She couldn't not make her move.

It was a little known fact that nothing had ever happened between Glinda and herself when they had been at Shiz, except for that one kiss in the Emerald City. Nessarose had believed them lovers, Boq too. And Croupe and Tibbet and even Fiyero. Especially Fiyero. He had always been jealous of Glinda.

The air was heavy with unfulfilled potential as Elphaba stepped onto the balcony and crossed the threshold into Glinda's room.

"Glinda." She whispered.

Glinda barely reacted.

"I saw you on the balcony, you're not as stealthy as you used to be." Glinda replied in an equally hushed though less friendly tone.

Elphaba smiled humourlessly. "I never could hide from you." She said. Then, "Who's the baby?"

"Your granddaughter." Glinda said, walking over to the crib and gently placing the now sleeping baby inside.

"So he really was..." Elphaba began.

"Your son." Glinda finished, fixing Elphaba with an annoyed look. "You know he came to me seeking help?"

Elphaba shook her head.

Glinda waved a dismissive hand in the air before reaching for a robe to cover herself up. "And another time he was trapped at the mauntery, you know _the_ Monterey. Soldiers were after his head, his and another boy." Glinda flicked her gaze to Elphaba pointedly. "Like mother like son."

The blonde bent over the crib and pulled the pale yellow knitted blanket over Melena. She then deposited the now empty bottle in a bowl of hot water, every day chores that made Elphaba's heart long.

"What's her name?" Elphaba asked, nodding towards the crib.

"Melena" Glinda said. "Melena Upland."

It was then that Elphaba suddenly realised she had a heart, because it broke. The coldness in Glinda's eyes as she looked at her was soul destroying, so she guessed she had a soul after all. It wasn't that Elphaba had thought that she could just wander back into Glinda's life but she hadn't expected to be greeted with icy indifference.

"I'm sorry." Elphaba said.

Glinda's look challenged Elphaba to know exactly what it was she was apologising for.

"I'm sorry that I let you believe I was dead." She tried.

Glinda remained frozen. "I knew you were alive."

"I'm sorry for what I said at Nessa's..."

Glinda shook her head telling Elphaba that she still wasn't right.

"I'm sorry for treating Liir the way I did." Elphaba ventured.

Again, nothing.

"I'm sorry for leaving you, in the Emerald City." Elphaba said, her last attempt.

"Is that it?" Glinda asked, clearly not pacified.

Elphaba nodded her head in defeat.

"You kissed me." Glinda said.

Now Elphaba got it. She hadn't been able to resist pressing her lips to Glinda's in a hurried kiss in their last moments together in the Emerald City. It wasn't like she ever thought that they would see each other again.

"I may have been infatuated with you before then but I knew nothing would ever happen, that you would never think of me that way, that you weren't capable of it. But then you kissed me and I fell in love, in one swift moment I felt the joy of love and the grief of loss. When I went back to Shiz everything felt empty, my friends, my lessons, everything. And then it was over and I married." Glinda said, not without bitterness. "Not for love, for necessity. An unmarried woman of my age and social standing was unheard of, people were starting to talk. They were bound to stumble on the truth one day so... I married with an agreement. An agreement that it was only a marriage in name. We only saw each other publicly and we never..." Glinda's gaze flicked to the sleeping babe. "I longed for a child but not his, not like that. It broke my heart all over again when I saw Liir."

Elphaba shifted uncomfortably.

"He's Fiyero's." Glinda said, not making it a question. Elphaba nodded anyway. "It hurt, knowing that you'd... I know it's stupid, of course you would but... I never."

"I've never been good with words Glinda." Elphaba began. "But know that I am truly sorry, from my heart."

"I thought you didn't have one." Glinda snorted.

"I did, but someone stole it. I've still to get it back." Elphaba said, holding Glinda's gaze.

"Maybe you're better with words than you realise." Glinda said, the first hint of a smile turning the corners of her mouth.

"I love you Glinda." Elphaba said.

Glinda nodded, blinking profusely. "I need time Elphaba."

"I have a cottage, in the Gillikin countryside." Elphaba said. "You could be quite comfortable there. I know that the citizens of the Emerald City are beginning to resent you. I hear things."

Glinda raised her chin indignantly. "People go in and out of fashion like shoes. It just happens that under the present regime I am out of favour, thanks to your brother."

Elphaba's stance tightened. "So that part's true then?"

"It seems your family has hunger for politics." Glinda said.

"Then you'll consider coming with me?"

Glinda looked around at her bedchambers, the rooms that had in recent months become her prison, and made her decision.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: After the Last Page Had Turned and the Curtain Had Fallen (2/?)  
**Fandom:** Wicked (Bookverse & Musicalverse)  
**Characters & Pairings:** Elphaba/Glinda  
**Rating:** PG-13 for now  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Wicked__  
_Summary: Under the Emperor Apostle Glinda is a prisoner in her own home but when a suspicious package is left on her balcony her life changes once again.

**Notes: **This was a bit rushed as I have been so busy this week, hope it's still okay!

"I'll come." Glinda said. "But there are conditions."

Elphaba nodded dumbly. She had been on the receiving end of requests from Glinda in the past and she almost always didn't like them.

"I need my own space, for me and Melena." Glinda said.

"Done." Elphaba nodded again.

"And you're not forgiven." Glinda said sternly.

"Is that a condition?" Elphaba asked, slightly amused.

Glinda pinched her eyes in annoyance. "No it's a fact."

Elphaba held up her hands in placation. "The rest of your conditions?"

But Glinda seemed not to hear her. She was lost in a sort of confusion, her head tilted to the side as if things would be clearer from that angle. "How did you get here?"

"I flew." Elphaba stated.

"You don't have your broom." Glinda accused.

"I came by Bird." Elphaba clarified.

Horror struck Glinda's eyes. "Absolutely not!" She said in a tone that managed to be a shout without being loud enough to wake Melena. Elphaba supposed it was a mother's skill. "I will not go an one of those filthy things and risk being _dropped_! And with a baby too!"

"Glinda..." Elphaba said in a tone that suggested she was well practiced in talking the blonde woman down from a rant.

"Never, nope, not!" Glinda said, firmly closing her mouth afterwards, signifying the end of the argument.

But she did.

The flight to the cottage was as uneventful as flying in a giant Goose could be. This was, as far as Glinda was concerned, far too eventful. There was a great view of Oz, or so Elphaba told her, but Glinda found it very hard to enjoy from behind her eyelids. She was far too concerned with gripping Melena as tightly as was possible without killing the poor child. It would be very inconvenient to have to dive after her, Glinda wasn't all together sure she could or indeed would.

They touched down in a green and pleasant garden, a thing of wonder that was so far removed from anything in the Emerald City that it took Glinda's breath quite away. There were flowers like tea cups with long spun gold stems that rose from beads of rich brown with a hint of fuchsia soil that Glinda recognised a Gillikinese.

"We really are in Gillikin." Glinda said in wonder, rocking the baby absently at her breast. She roamed her gaze to the opposite flower bed, noting the silver bingle berries on the horthaw bush and the butterfly crocuses. There were so many rare flowers in the garden that it would have taken her all day to identify and call to mind the names of them all. One thing she knew for sure was that they were all of them from different parts of Oz. "How are they all growing together in Gillikin soil?" She asked, turning to Elphaba for the first time since they had landed.

"Magic." Elphaba said.

"But you don't have the Grimmerie." Glinda scrunched her nose when a butterfly attempted to land on it.

"I picked up enough from it." Elphaba said, "Although I do miss studying it."

"It's in my bag." Said Glinda, distracted again by various garden pretties. It was the path now that held her attention, a miniature road of purple brick that meandered up to the violet front door of the pale yellow-pink cottage. "Gillikin architecture." She commented.

"I mentioned we were in Gillikin, yes?" Elphaba smirked.

"I know, it's just been so long since I've been in real rural Gillikin." Glinda murmured as the door was opened and she stepped into shadowy kitchen. "It's exactly as I remember it."

"I bought the place from a young couple who were moving to Shiz, hoping for a better chance of getting their eldest into the university." Elphaba explained, waiting for Glinda's eyes to adjust to the inside of the cottage.

"A young couple already worried about their child getting into university." Glinda murmured, peering into the sitting room.

"The child is 16." Elphaba responded, following Glinda and wondering why commented on the cottage's interior yet.

Glinda whirled around. "16?"

Elphaba nodded. "An unfortunate accident whilst both were still in university."

"I forget sometimes," Glinda said, "that you too have a grown up child."

The small blonde disappeared around a corner.

"What do you think?" Called Elphaba.

"I think that it was stupid of you to put yourself in that situation, getting pregnant." Glinda called back a little sharply.

Elphaba frowned. "I meant the cottage."

"Where are my quarters?" Glinda called, the sound of heels on stairs almost drowning her out.

"It is a cottage Glinda." Elphaba reminded her.

More heels on stairs and Glinda was suddenly in the kitchen again. "You promised." She said, narrowing her eyes.

"There are two beds they just happen to be in the same room." Elphaba said, turning a shade darker.

Glinda's eyes went wide. "Elphaba!"

"I'll sleep in the sitting room." Elphaba said.

"Quite right too." Glinda said, blowing a stray curl out of her face.

"Where's Melena?" Elphaba asked, only now noticing that the baby wasn't in Glinda's arms.

"Cot in the bedroom." Glinda said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What did you think I would do with the Grimmerie? Use it as a doorstop?"

Elphaba made a sound that Glinda supposed was meant to signify her being impressed. "Is that why you only brought a few things with you?"

Glinda twisted a self satisfied smirk. "Yes."

"I'm impressed." Elphaba said, humour threatening behind the cool facade of her eyes.

"So you should be." Glinda said, humour doing more than just threatening with her. "I've grown up a lot since our days at Shiz."

_In some respects_, Elphaba thought.

There had always been an aura of purity around Glinda in Elphaba's eyes, a bright pure white light that had somehow managed to cling to Glinda as she grew. The light was a little dimmer now, she had seen so many thing that Elphaba wished she could have spared her from, but the light was still there. She was still innocent.

Standing there in Elphaba's kitchen Glinda looked glorious. It was as if the innocence transformed within her to be a strength instead of a weakness. She looked all powerful, and as far as Elphaba was concerned she was.

"I know." Elphaba said. "We both have."

Glinda shook her head. "Your still doing thing without thinking about the consequences."

"I thought long and hard before coming to see you, before bringing you here." Elphaba defended, being sure to keep her voice neutral as she knew this wasn't an argument.

"Liir." Glinda countered, "Fiyero. Nessarose. Sarima, yes I know about her, and her family."

Elphaba turned away.

"How can I be sure that you won't bring disaster to me and Melena?" Glinda asked.

"Because I love you." Elphaba whispered, so quiet she knew Glinda wouldn't be able to hear her. She wasn't sure she wanted Glinda to hear her.

"What?" Glinda asked, her eyes wide as her head tried to process what her heart had already heard.

"Because I love you." Elphaba said, turning to face Glinda. "I love you and I would never let anything happen to you."

"Didn't you love Nessa?" Glinda asked, her heart fluttering wildly in her chest, like a butterfly that had just emerged from its chrysalis and was taking its first heady flight.

"Of course..." Elphaba said, wishing Glinda would react to her impromptu declaration.

"And Fiyero?" Glinda asked, voice cracking.

"I never loved Fiyero." Elphaba said. "Not really."

"Then why did you..."

"He was a means to an end." Elphaba said, not meaning it as cruel as it sounded. Then again, she never meant things the way they sounded, words had a way of doing thing of their own accord from Elphaba's mouth. "Not all of us are as strong as you."

"And not all of us are as lucky as you to have that choice! I don't!" Glinda said, annoyed now. "I never had that choice, the mere thought of it... " She shook her head. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to find a husband who understood that and even then have to fight off his advances daily?"

Elphaba stood, shocked. "Glinda I..."

"Don't." Glinda said. "Don't you_ dare_."

And with that she turned and ran up the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

Glinda stayed in a huff for the next three weeks. She complained about the lack of servants to do the menial tasks, about the lack of other people to talk to and most of all about the fact that there was not even the tiniest news that anything was up in the Emerald City. It seemed as if no one was missing her, both emotionally and well, actually. No one at all seemed to notice the sudden disappearance of Glinda the Good.

Elphaba went out every day in a black shall to hide her face and fetched fresh milk and bread for the unconventional family; she had not once held her granddaughter. It wasn't as if Glinda had told her that she was not to touch the baby, more that the little green bundle was constantly clutched to Glinda, a tiny shield separating the blonde from the green girl. Elphaba wasn't sure how much more of it she could stand.

"Glinda," She began, not really sure what was going to come after. They were sat around the breakfast table, Elphaba picking her way through a bowl of ill conceived porridge (it was summer after all) and Glinda hidden behind a rather tattered edition of the Gillikin Post.

Glinda peaked out from behind the paper. "What?"

Elphaba sighed, knowing that Glinda's reaction to this could go one of two ways. One way would lead to happiness, the pleasurable outcome. And one way that would lead to sadness, the un-pleasurable outcome.

"Don't you think that it's time to forgive me?" Elphaba said cautiously.

"Why should I?" Glinda asked, eyebrow raised.

"Because you are in my house, eating my bread and because I told you something I've never told anyone before in my life." Elphaba said, glad that there was a table between her and the blonde tornado. She couldn't say those three words again, not so soon.

Glinda just stared at her, eyes big and unreadable.

"Glinda, if you feel nothing but hatred towards me then why did you come here?" Elphaba asked, drained of any more fight.

"I don't hate you." Glinda said, glancing at Melena sleeping in the basket beside her.

"Then why..."

"Because I love you." Glinda said finally. "Do you have any idea how much that hurts, loving the most hated woman in Oz? Putting your whole life on hold for her whilst she moves on? I could have found love again, had my own children. I could have had a family, Elphaba."

"You have Melena." Elphaba said, watching the child quit her fussing with a gentle touch from Glinda.

"I'm only keeping her, she should be yours to raise by rights." Glinda said, her gaze soft on the now sleeping baby.

"You're her mother." Elphaba said. "Anyone can see that."

Glinda sighed. "I wish that were true. The people do not understand the true meaning of family. Notions of blood run too deep."

Elphaba looked troubled. "I forget sometimes, how unconventional a family I grew up in."

Glinda, out of nowhere, started to laugh. "You know, after all of this build up I thought that the when we finally admitted that we love each other that there would be a little more... I don't know, fireworks?"

"This isn't a fairytale or one of those musical stories on the stages of the Emerald City." Elphaba said.

"Why not?" Glinda asked. "I've been waiting my whole life to_ live_. Why can't we make this a fairytale?"

For the first time since coming to Glinda in her palace Elphaba saw that spark. The spark that made Glinda's blue eyes sparkle and dance and made Elphaba melt (figuratively of course). Elphaba's heart was beating hard in her chest, telling her exactly what to say.

"It can be if you want it to be." Elphaba said, cursing the shakiness of her voice.

Glinda smiled. "Do you need to go down to the village this afternoon?"

"I can do, why?" Elphaba asked, wary.

"Just don't come back until after sundown." Glinda said, eyes sparkling even more but this time there was a hint of mischief.

Elphaba obeyed, because what else would she do?

When Elphaba got home there were was a faint glow coming from the small windows of the cottage, not light enough to touch the darkness outside but enough to signify that there was _life_ inside. For so long since the confrontation at Kiamo Ko she had come home to a dark house, one that was dead and empty. It was nice to see it alive, even if she was a little afraid of what Glinda could possibly have planned.

She knocked on the front door lightly (having done it heavily last week and woken up the baby she would never dare do so again).

"Come in." She heard.

So she did.

The kitchen was pretty much in black but there was the flicker of candlelight from the room beyond, the one where Glinda had set up soft furniture and a low table to rest drinks on. Following the light, Elphaba stepped into the room.

"Glinda?" She called out. "Glinda, where are you?"

"I'm here."


	4. Chapter 4

Title: After the Last Page Had Turned and the Curtain Had Fallen (4/4)  
**Fandom:** Wicked (Bookverse & Musicalverse)  
**Characters & Pairings:** Elphaba/Glinda  
**Rating:** PG-13 for now  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Wicked  
_Summary: Under the Emperor Apostle Glinda is a prisoner in her own home but when a suspicious package is left on her balcony her life changes once again.

Elphaba turned around.

"Glin-" Her breath caught in her throat.

"Hey."Glinda said slowly, her eyes sparkling. She was wearing a simple white dress that was only slightly less revealing than the shift Elphaba had seen her wearing that night from the balcony.

"Glinda..." Elphaba began.

"Hush." Glinda whispered, stepping closer. "I've been dancing my whole life. Dancing at debutante balls, society dinners, my graduation ball. Ever since we first met we have been dancing around each other, sticking to the steps we both know and never daring change it, to stop dancing and just _live_ it. I'm sick of dancing, Elphaba."

Elphaba felt her heart race as Glinda continued forward until they were touching, completely."Glinda..."

"I'm not finished." Glinda interrupted. "I want the life I deserve, the life both of us deserve. I want you. I want you and I exist separate from the politics that has ruined our lives, that has ruled our lives. For as long as I can remember we have been separate by politics, at first you were the Quadling peasant and I was the Gillikin society girl – I thought it was hard then – but then you became the Wicked Witch of the West and I became Glinda the Good and it wasn't just society's rules that kept us apart but the entire wrath of the Wizard and his Gale Force. But now it's just you and me away from all of that. Don't we finally deserve that?"

"Of course, my sweet." Elphaba cooed.

"Promise me," Glinda said, "no more politics."

"I promise."

Glinda nodded, her eyes dropping from Elphaba's eyes and settling on her lips.

It was that moment that Elphaba knew that Glinda was finally going to do it. They were finally going to cross that last barrier. Life as she knew it was never going to be the same again.


End file.
